Sasuke's Retrieval
by runswithskizors
Summary: What if Sasuke hadn't left quick enough at the Valley of End? What if Kakashi had gotten there in time? Would he just run away again? Would life be any different? and what of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship with each other afterwards? sasunaru later
1. Retrieved

_Ah, I was waiting for this day to come, the day when I finally wrote a Naruto fanfiction about Sasuke and Naruto and actually submitted it. So basically it's what the description says. It's really in depth and sappy in the first part, Sasuke is kind of out of character for what most people believe, but i think that sasuke really is a deep person. Well I know he is, just most people refuse to accept he can be okay sometimes. Blame Itachi. He's the one that screwed sasuke up! _

_So reviews are nice! always welcome. and I need a beta. I hate reading my own stories. suffer with me and enjoy!_

He was so close he could see the Valley of End in his mind's eye and using the sharingan he really could see past the last couple layers of trees to the battle ground for the two boys. The thundering waterfall that seemed to have a life and chakra all it's own. The two great figures of Konohagakure's past forever standing tall as a symbol of what true peace really is. Senju Hashirama, the first hokage, and Uchiha Madara, the first truely powerful Uchiha, both had created an alliance between their rivaling clans to form Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves, as a testament to their peace.

The symbolism in their fight was ridiculous to Kakashi. The Last Uchiha fighting the only son and of the late Fourth Hokage, Yondaime, and the last child of the Hokages in the same place marked with the peace of the first Hokage and the first truely amazing Uchiha.

"It's just up ahead," Pakkun told Kakashi.

The ex-anbu nodded and raced ahead and a newer speed, propelled by his need to find the boys before it was to late.

Sasuke was knocked to his knees by the shock his body had taken from merely fighting the blonde haired boy. His curse mark was receding inside of him again and the pain was too intense. Squinting his eyes shut and breathing hard, he sat there on the ground trying to regain his ability to even move. Once he finally opened his eyes, he was face to face with Naruto's lifeless body.

The intense pain of seeing his face completely devoid of any life was worse than his curse mark, this new pain making it so he couldn't move a muscle. The rain was beginning to pound really hard on his back, almost as if it was trying to force him closer to the boy. He gazed at the boy for an immeasurable moment, taking in the stupid lines on his face, his ridiculously spiky blonde hair, how soft that hair looked, his long eyelashes, his pale, smooth cheeks. The scuff marks and bruises all over him.

_Oh god_, he thought to himself, _did I...did I do that?_

he had done this to Uzukami Naruto, to his best friend. He had robbed the soul from his body, the smile from his face, the cheerful voice he had. He had stolen away his life. He didn't feel any different, any more powerful. The mangekyo sharingan was supposed to feel special, wasn't it?

Was it all a lie? Had Itachi lied to him? It wouldn't have been the first time. Did he really just kill the closest person to him for nothing?

His best friend, the only person in the entire world he thought he would ever be friends with was now dead and it was all his fault. This new pain, this guilt, knocked him breathless once more, staring into that face of the awful thing he had done.

But Sasuke heard a breath. It couldn't have been his own, this pain would not let him breathe. He tried to tear his gaze away from the blonde boy's face but found he could not. The color was slowly returning to the boy's cheeks, signs of life creeping over his still body.

The relief that washed through Sasuke was amazing. There was no other feeling like that he had just had, it filled his entire body up with warmth despite the freezing rain like pounding ice on his back.

He could take out a Kunai right now and kill the boy. Achieve the power he needed to kill his brother and take revenge for his clan. Even the thought of that hurt him to much. He would never kill him after the things he just felt. At least not now. Maybe when he got stronger.

No.

He would get the Mangekyo Sharingan another way. He was _not_ going to fallow in the footsteps of his retched brother. But in order to get the strength he needed, he had to abandon all feelings, he had to cut this tie. It was in turn make Naruto stronger, but he could live with that. These feelings of regret and guilt, relief and pain, they were nothing but a hinderance to him.

Naruto's lips twitched, a sign he was coming back into consciousness. They had been close. So close.

Sasuke's body moved on it's own, slowly getting closer to the blonde haired boy, his hair dripping onto his face and creating rivers down the boy's cheeks.

This was his only friend. The only tie he had left to break.

Kakashi broke through those last few layers of trees and into the Valley of End. He ran down the rocky face next to the waterfall, desperately trying to save both boys. He found Sasuke leaning close to Naruto's face, Naruto laying on the ground extremely still. Rage boiled up in his stomach at the thought that sasuke and actually killed this boy. But sasuke seemed to be getting closer to his face...he paused for a second, staring at the sight.

Until Kakashi reminded himself that Sasuke was missing nin and needed to be taken into Konoha custody. He had been trying to _kill_ Naruto. This was no time for mercy.

He creeped up behind the Uchiha and gripped his left arm swiftly, pulling it behind his back while at the same time grabbing his right arm and throwing him around so he was no longer facing Naruto. Kakashi let go on his right arm, still keeping his grip on his left, and pushed Sasuke's head to the ground.

"Sasuke, By order of the 5th Hokage, Tsunade-sama, you are hereby under the custody of Konohagakure."

Sasuke tensed and struggled against his sensei's grip but could not break it no matter what. "Let me _go_ Kakashi-sensei!" he kept trying to break free of the incredibly tight grip on his arm and head.

"I can't do that Sasuke, you are an Offical Missing Nin and as an elite Jounin my mission assigned to me by the 5th hokage was to take you back to Konoha by force if necessary," Kakashi explained to the Uchiha boy, "Now, will you come back quietly or not?"

"I...I can't," he growled, "If you let me go I'll just run."

"I see," He said in an emotionless tone.

"You don't understand," He hissed at his sensei, "I _have_ to leave. There's nothing left for me in Konoha. I can't keep wasting my time here. And..."

"Hn?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered over to Naruto's body for a brief second before they grudgingly set themselves back to the dirt beneath him.

"Ah," Kakashi-sensei said wisely, "I see. You can't go back because of that? What makes you think that would be the case? the opposite could very well happen if you give it a try."

Sasuke set his mouth in a grimace, "I...I can't risk that."

Naruto moved a little in his now subconscious state, his mouth moving and working to form words until something finally came out, "Sa..sasuke."

Said boy jerked his head away from Naruto as if that alone could block out the boy's existence. "Kakashi," He hissed once more, "let me go." The venom in his demand was staggering. The Jounin blinked a couple times, his guard taken completely by surprise. The boy sounded so...desperate, so pleading, it was unlike anything he had ever heard. he _needed_ kakashi to let go of him.

Naruto slowly came back into a conscious state, his eyes opening to find Sasuke in Kakashi-sensei's hold. He said nothing, but watched and listened to what they were doing.

"Tell me why," Kakashi demanded, "Tell me why you are so hell bent on leaving your home."

"My home was destroyed," He countered back immediately, "My whole family, my dream, everything i had was killed right before my eyes. All I ever wanted was taken away from me. I need my revenge."

"And Naruto?"

Sasuke paused, "If I ever went back...I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye ever again. everything I've done to him would be reflected back at me. His coldness to me afterwards, his distance, his hatred for me...I wouldn't be able to take it."

"Sakura?"

"...She is...something else I'd really rather not deal with right now," He hissed under his breath.

After a long pause of consideration Kakashi tightened his grip on Sasuke a bit more, "I'm sorry Sasuke, but laws are laws, it's my mission, I can't let you go. Your reasons are legitimate but I'm sure everything will work itself out. as for your revenge, you know my advice. Take what you have now and and be grateful for it."

"But Naruto..." Sasuke trailed off. the blonde boy was working hard to stay conscious now but was failing. He was slipping back into that utter darkness in the recess of his mind. "Naruto is..."

"Unconscious once again and needs to be taken to the hospital immediately and I'm not going back to Konoha without you sasuke."

The Uchiha's eyes grew wide, "Once again?"

"He heard what you said about him," Kakashi explained, hauling the boy to his feet and creating a shadow clone to tie up his hands and feet.

"Shit," The uchiha swore under his breath, "I will never forgive you Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled at him and hauled him over his shoulder just as the medical ninja arrived to take Naruto. "And I'm a-okay with that. Now it's off to the hokage. She will listen to your story and then decide on a sentence for you if need be."

And with those last words Kakashi sprung off into the forest back towards Konoha. Sasuke mentally cursed Naruto all the way to hell and back, but a private little part of his mind hoped he would be okay.

_XD proud! very proud how Kakashi's character turned out! I should do more of him, I always seem to understand his character. _

See the Go button? It grants world peace! But only if you click on it and type a few lines, kiddies!


	2. Sentence

_alright! i had a hard time breaking this up. I actually wrote this in the middle of chapter 3 but decided to cut it out and give sasuke a chapter all his own...the whiney little bitch...better be grateful for the grief he's putting me through._

. _so anyways! the sasunaru-ness is hinted at or am i just delusional. nah! there's no way sasuke likes naruto, that'd just be weird. O.o_

_its short i know._

_read relax review enjoy!_

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It had been a full 24 hours since Kakashi had taken sasuke back to the village by force, that was the required amount of time he was allowed to stay at home and rest until he was brought before the hokage. Sasuke was dreading this worse than facing naruto again but he planned on doing both of those things in the same day, get them over and done with.

Sasuke was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling when kakashi knocked on the bedroom door just to be courteous. never mind sasuke knew he had been watching him with the sharingan through the walls and he had a clone outside the window in case of escape.

"Sasuke," came the voice of the silver haired man, "It's time to meet with the Hokage-sama."

The uchiha shoved himself off the bed and stalked angrily out of his room, arms crossed over his chest as he threw the jounin a glare in the process. "Lets get this over with."

--

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade-sama started, placing her elbows on her desk and threading her fingers together, looking over them in a menacing way that said she meant business. "You are being tried for abandoning Konoha and earning the title of a Missing nin. you fully comprehend that this means you have betrayed Konoha."

"I do," Sasuke said in a grave tone.

"Then start from the beginning," Tsunade-sama said, "tell me why you're innocent."

"I'm not," Sasuke started, "I left the village of my own accord. I was fully intending to join Orochimaru and the sound ninja, to become a missing nin. I did not intend to ever come back. I betrayed the village and there's no way you could ever possibly believe i wouldn't tell orochimaru Konoha's secrets, all you have to go on is my word and that means nothing to you now."

"You got that right, you little punk," Tsunade-sama hissed, "Give me one good reason i shouldn't throw you in the holding cell for the rest of your life?"

"I have a lot of potential."

Tsunade admitted that was a big factor to keep the uchiha kid around. Still, it would knock some much needed sense into the brat to lock him away for a couple of weeks...or months. Something to teach him a lesson. He couldn't get away with this scott free. And tsunade wasn't about to let him.

"What's your sentence, Hokage-sama," Shizune asked. She kept looking at the kid warily as if he might run off any time. But he'd have to fight his way through at least 20 jounin to even make it halfway to the gate. Still, she felt uneasy around him.

A brilliant idea came to the Hokage in a stroke of what she thought was pure genius. "Uchiha Sasuke, at first I was going to make your sentence severe in a dark holding cell for a month or two but I figured you would like that to much compared to the alternative I have."

The Uchiha's eyes grew wide, horrible thoughts of pure torture filling his mind. Would she make him go out with every girl in Konoha? nothing could be worse.

"I'm putting you under extremely close surveillance for the next month being watched constantly by one of our most elite ninjas," Tsunade informed him. She held back her smirk at his obvious relief. "You will continue training as usual and take on extra D-Mission that take place inside of the village for that time." He got a bit tense when she mentioned training and the Hokage knew why. She was going to have fun dropping this bomb on the boy's head.

Before she could continue Sasuke asked, "Who is the ninja I am being watched by?"

She grinned widely now, not able to contain her amusement. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke's jaw dropped to the floor, his eyes wide in horror. "No! please Tsunade-sama! Anyone but him!"

She chuckled in utter amusement. "Here are the conditions of your 'house arrest,' we'll call it." Sasuke groaned in pain. "Since both of you do not have parents to speak of, Naruto will be moving in with you to keep a closer eye on you. You are both to sleep in the same room, live together for the next month, and do everything he says. You disobey him and I will know about it. Naruto is to be your warden for the next month and you two will preform missions together as well. If there is an outside mission and Naruto thinks you can handle it, you may go."

Sasuke's hopes went crashing through the floor. Solitary confinement for a year sounded okay but compared to this, is sounded like heaven. Tsunade-sama had found the perfect way to put him through hell and back.

"Are we clear on the terms of your house arrest?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Good," She sat back in her chair a bit, "Kakashi Hatake will escort you back to your house and keep watch over you until Naruto is able."

A pang of guilt hit Sasuke as he remembered why Naruto wasn't able to right then and there. He was the one that had sent him to the hospital. He idly began to wonder-

"Alright Sasuke," Kakashi's voice sounded behind him, "Let's go home."

--

They had been walking for about five minutes when they passed by the hospital. it had been a 2 days plus the 24 rest period given to sasuke because he had come back to the village and he assumed the blonde haired shinobi would be awake by now. He stopped dead in his tracks just in front of the hospital, staring up at the windows, trying to find naruto in one of them.

"hm, what is it sasuke?"

Sasuke threw a look at his sensei and then back up at the hospital to examine the windows. why he thought naruto would be waiting there looking for him was beyond him.

"Sensei can we...stop in and.." sasuke couldn't finish his sentence, his pride wouldn't let him. instead he folded his arms and turned his head away from the windows and his sensei.

"You want to stop in and check in on naruto," Kakashi asked, lowering the book from his face to examine sasuke's face. it was written all over him, even his body language screamed he. he wanted to see naruto more than anything. a grin spread across the ex-anbu's face in delight.

Sasuke let out a puff of air in a defiant way and still kept his eyes away from anything. "Like i'd want to see _him_," sasuke spat out the words, "I just wanted to get some aloe in case of burns. i ran out a few weeks back and the fire ball jutsu burns when you use it." sasuke's excuse was legitimate but was such a crap out.

kakashi saw right through it and put his book away, trying not to grin at having found sasuke's weak spot. "Alright well you go pick up your aloe, i'm going to go see naruto," kakashi said in a horribly fake voice, "It might be considerate if you came along, you know."

Sasuke grumbled under his breath and reluctantly fallowed kakashi in, playing along for his pride's sake, "Fine, but only because i don't want to hear you complain about how i should've visited, alright?"

kakashi held the front door to the hospital for the uchiha boy and ushered him inside saying "Whatever you say, sasuke."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

oh my gawd! a button!! what ever does it do?

seriously tell me what ya think!


	3. An SRanked Mission

_I lost this computer for a long time! and summer has been chewing up my time and what not. but i finally cranked out another chapter!_

_please forgive it's lateness! read review and enjoy!_

--

Naruto was slowly coming back to consciousness once again. He didn't feel like he was on rough, unforgiving dirt, but he couldn't be sure anymore. His senses were confusing him. He thought he could see Sasuke's angry face glaring at him, ready to kill him. he was still fighting? How long had it been?

He thought he saw all of this until he realized that to see you need to open your eyes. And he did so.

He was greeted by white washed walls that had faded to a more subtle cream like color. The world was at a weird angle. There was a window to his right and a door to his left. He finally realized why everything was so distorted as it was. He was lying down. On a slightly soft bed, white sheets coated him like layers of sugar, something soft was underneath his head. His face was wrapped in bandages as were his hands. In his hands he realized he had a headband.

He sat up quickly, blood rushing to his head. Maybe to quickly. The room spun at a weird angel all at the same time his brain tried to piece everything together.

Sasuke!

Sasuke had left.

To join Orochimaru.

They had fought each other.

Naruto had scratched his headband and it fell off. That was the last thing he could remember before he blacked out on the cold, hard ground. That and seeing the medical ninjas take him back to Konoha, just a brief view of trees before he passed out again. Sasuke was gone and all he had left of him was his head band.

Naruto clutched the headband tightly in his hands before picking it up and folding the flaps behind the metal part, laying it neatly on his lap.

Naruto has lost his promise to Sakura. She was going to hate him. He had lost his promise to Chouji, Neji, Kiba, Lee and Shikamaru.

He idly wondered where all of them were, if they were all right. But he wondered more where sasuke was. If he was alright.

"What? You're awake?"

Naruto lifted his head to see Shikamaru standing lazily, as he always did, against the door frame. His finger was wrapped in a bandage around a splint.

"Shikamaru!"

--

"Alright, there you are, ladies," the nurse at the desk said after they signed the sign in and out sheet.

"I'll go see Chouji first, you?" Ino said, turning to Sakura.

"I'll go to Naruto and Sasuke." Even though everyone was back and she knew the battle was over, she still looked worried and sad. Sakura wasn't sure if either of them would be there but her hope kept her strong. And even if they both were there, she wasn't sure if they would be in a stable condition. That's what worried her more.

--

"I see. Everyone is okay. I'm glad..." Naruto said in a relieved voice, keeping his hands calmly on Saskue's headband. He had been easily conversing with Shikamaru as he sat down on his bed and regaled Naruto with all the things that had knew had happened and the conditions of their friends.

The only problem was, naruto wasn't glad. His face was blank and emotionless and Shikamaru knew it.

"Then, Sasuke..." Shikamaru couldn't finish his question. It would've been better if Naruto was in complete pain or screaming and yelling in anger at the top of his lungs. the complete absence of any emotion was beginning to disturb him.

"Yeah...He went..." Naruto couldn't finish his sentence either. it was just to hard to say.

Sakura was standing outside the door, listening to their scarce conversation through the door, to afraid to open it and go in, to afraid to see the condition Naruto was in. But she had lifted her hand to open the door only to have it drop as dead weight by her side. this was worse than what she had imagined. She stayed by the door, left hand pushed against it...

Lady Tsunade walked down the hall to Naruto's room to Find Sakura in her shocked position. "Visiting?" Sakura's head turned at the sound of her voice. "Word travels quickly."

The old Sanin felt bad for the poor girl, she had obviously been told Sasuke had not come back while Tsunade knew he was in the holding cell of Konoha waiting to be tried before the Hokage. It felt horrible to have to keep them in the dark.

As both the Shinobi walked into the room, Naruto's eyes filled with guilt. Sakura acknowledged him and he did the same to her before turning his head away in pain and sadness.

The silence in the room was stifling.

"I was told you had quite a severe wound," Tsunade declared, "And despite all that you look pretty good."

The silence continued on despite the Hokage's efforts to break it.

"I'm sorry Sakura."

She gasped slightly as her eyes widened at how much pain her comrade was in. To hide her pain she tried to jokingly blow it off, seem good humored. "Why are you apologizing? Its you, so you probably went overboard again. Sheesh you look like a mummy!" Naruto tried to apologize again but she blew it off. "Come on, the weather is nice today so lets open the curtains..."

"Sakura, I'll keep my promise for sure...i said it was a promise of a life time!" Naruto shouted.

"Its okay now, Naruto," She said sadly.

"Sakura, he tried..." Shikamaru started but Naruto interrupted him.

"I've always said that... i will keep going straight ahead never taking back or bending my words! that's my ninja way!" he shouted, a confident smile on his face. Sakura look at him, shocked. he began laughing a bit and she smiled at him too. she knew he would keep his promise, that was for sure.

--

Naruto was sitting quietly in his bed, gazing at the headband for an hour or so. Time seemed to have either stopped or gone by very quickly. He thought the latter since the nurse that came in a little bit ago told him he had been there for 3 days and was getting out tomorrow.

What did he have to go home to but an empty promise?

There was a knock at his door. He looked up to find Kakashi-sensei poking his head through a little bit, trying not to wake him if he was asleep. something close to an expression was trying to make its way onto his face, but nothing happened. he was dead inside and had been for the last couple of days.

"Hey Naruto," Kakashi opened the door a bit wider but didn't come in, "You should be resting. I came to see how you were."

Naruto said nothing but gave him a dead look.

"Ah, I see," kakashi said in a sagely voice, "you feel guilty, correct?"

"I feel worthless," Naruto muttered, turning his gaze back to the headband in his lap.

Kakashi opened the door all the way and walked in a little bit but still stayed near the door. Naruto didn't have the heart to look up at him. but his gaze on his lap.

He tried to shut out the rest of the world and to stop feeling again like he had taught himself to do for the past few hours.

Sasuke was there, only Naruto didn't know it. He had quietly walked into the room when kakashi had stepped aside. He was standing at the foot of the bed, not moving a muscle, but staring at that empty face. It seemed so wrong and out of place on the usually cheerful little blonde. This is what Sasuke would've left behind?

"Hey dobe, you look awful," he finally got his mouth and voice to work together to form words.

Naruto looked up, his face still dead inside, until his eyes fell upon the Uchiha boy. shock filled him until he finally sprung out of bed and tried to reach for a kunai in his pouch, but he realized he wasn't armed with anything. Fear filled his eyes as he looked back at Sasuke who stood in a relaxed position, one eyebrow raised. He brought his arms together to block his face instead.

"Sasuke why are you back!"

"Relax dobe," Sasuke started, only to be cut off my naruto once again.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

A second naruto appeared behind Sasuke. He effectively spun around low to the ground and knocked the feet out from under the clone, making it disappear with a puff of smoke. He finished his kicked, planting his foot n the ground and using his momentum to propell himself to Naruto's left and grabbed his arm, pinning his behind his back. He shoved Naruto face down on to the bed and said, "Shut up for a second dobe."

"kakashi-sensei," Naruto cried out, "Why aren't you stopping him!?"

"Listen to what he has to say, naruto," was his only response.

Sasuke let go of naruto and took a few steps back, folding his arms across his chest and waiting for the clumsy bastard to get back on his feet again.

Once he finally did sasuke explained the situation, "I'm not back because I wanted to come back, kakashi dragged me. I'm now under house arrest for the next month while I'm carefully monitored by an elite ninja."

Naruto noticed how the Uchiha boy spat the words "elite ninja" at him like they disgusted him. He raised a blonde eyebrow and asked, "Who is gaurding you?"

Sasuke grimaced and turned his head towards the window and mumbled something Naruto couldn't make out, but the boy looked positively pissed off.

"What," he asked.

"I said You Are," Sasuke glared at the blonde boy now, hatred in his eyes as he enuncitaed the last few words like Naruto was a moron, and in his book, he was.

The blonde boy stood there for a moment, his bruises pulsing all over him again in a new wave of pain just at the the thought having sasuke back in the same room. Now he was going to be watching for a whole month? the Uchiha was going to rip him to shreds if he didn't set him on fire first. "M-me?!"

There was a long pause and Kakashi nodded since he could tell Sasuke was to proud to say anything else. "You will be living with Sasuke for the next month and watching him closely. You two will be sleeping in the same room as well for further security measures. He will not be allowed on any missions unless you see fit. Do you understand Naruto?"

Naruto was frightened by his new mission at first until a huge grin spread across his face at having that much control over the Uchiha boy, "He has to do anything I say for the next month?"

Kakashi nodded, feeling sorry for Sasuke, "Yup, pretty much."

"All right!" Naruto shouted, "This is gunna be awesome! I won't get you get away from me this time sasuke!" Naruto didn't see this as a horrible punishment to be left alone with the infuriating boy, but a chance to make up for completely failing at bringing him back, for having kakashi step in and take care of it. He could finally prove he could do something right and he could still make his promise good with Sakura.

The pink haired kunoichi popped in to his mind.

"I'd rather you didn't tell Sakura I was back quite yet," Sasuke growled at him.

"hehe, but you have to do anything I say and I say-"

"No, this time I'm going to make the call," Kakashi interrupted him, "don't tell Sakura, or anyone for that matter, that Sasuke is back quite yet. tsunade-sama ordered you to keep quiet about this until she would see fit. the village would react negatively if they knew Sasuke was forced back so she's ordering the others who were on the mission with you to keep quiet as well. If this leaks out to the whole Village he will never get any peace. Is this understood?"

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock as he said, "Yeah, sure kakashi-sensei. I guessed I never thought about it like that."

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"I order you to stop calling me that," Naruto said in a commanding voice but still contained a hint of glee that he could do this to him.

"Like hell, you dumbass," Sasuke shouted, "I can still say whatever I want and do whatever i want under my own roof, I just can't go anywhere to do anything without your approval! you don't own me!"

"Fine then! I was just trying to get you to be a little nicer to me," he muttered, "wouldn't kill ya."

After all the techinical business and details of the mission assigned to Naruto were cleared up, the two left the room so Naruto could rest to be ready to get out by tomorrow. The blonde boy had been extremely satisfied that it was an S-ranked mission.

Sasuke was escorted home and watched over for the night by a very quiet kakashi-sensei. and just as Sasuke was about to head up to bed, Kakashi called to him.

"Sasuke."

"Yeah?"

"Could you come here for a moment," Kakashi asked in a nonchalant tone he usually spoke in, "I would like to talk with you."

--

_Isn't the go button just so cute? dont you just want to press it?_


	4. Just a Dream

_Alright! I'm back after a month of french camp and yes i learned french there. So here's the first chapter i was able to crank out in the last 4 days of being totally depressed from leaving and having horrible writers block. I don't have one clue about where i'm going with this story so if you plan on asking its not that i dont want to tell you what's gunna happen, i kinda do, but i have no clue whats going on! at this point in time you, my lovely readers, know about as much as i do. Well except I know the beginning of the next chapter but thats about it._

_So yeah! read, review, ideas would be nice and a beta would be as well. _

--

"I need to know."

Sasuke blinked a couple times at the silver haired man lounging lazily against the wall just outside sasuke's apartment. Naruto had left to pack up his things and bring them over to sasuke's apartment tomorrow. Kakashi stared at the raven haired boy standing dumbfounded in front of him, eyes half lidded in boredom.

"Know what," he asked in an innocent voice.

"Why did you stop," Kakashi asked, voice stern and serious, "Why didn't you kill Naruto then and there, why didn't you finish the job and make a run for it like you had planned to do? What happened?"

Sasuke sat there, his lips working, trying to find the right words that would make his sensei drop the topic completely, lies flooding his head, but the truth was edging it was slowly to the surface.

"I didn't want to follow the same path my brother did," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Sasuke knew it was a bunch of bull shit and kakashi seemed to be seriously considering if it was truth or not. He gave sasuke a long hard look before he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Well its a good thing you didn't," he finally said, "I'm always here if you need to talk."

Sasuke nodded his head slowly and gave the silver haired man an earnest look. Kakashi just sighed, rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Well, whatever. It's getting pretty late, you should head to bed."

Sasuke stood there as he watched the silver haired man walking slowly away from him, the guilt building up to form a lump in the raven haired boy's throat. He swallowed his pride for a quick second and called, "Hey, sensei?"

The man turned around.

"Thanks."

A small smile spread across the man's lips, hidden by his mask. He gave a curt nod before walking away into the shadows of the approaching darkness. Sasuke stood there and watched as his back melted into the night and disappeared before heading back to his room. He knew kakashi would be out there all night.

_Where am I_, sasuke thought, he had been walking through the woods for a few hours now, getting weary of the tall walls of green on every side of him, never a break in the everlasting maze of forest. he didn't know when he had begun walking so he didn't know when he should stop either. He kept going feeling that there was something he needed to find out here, that he'd know when to stop.

so far that knowledge hadn't hit him yet and his feet warily dragged him forward towards that goal, whatever it was.

after another few minutes of walking, his feet like lead blocks weighing him down into the soft, slightly damp earth, he finally stopped. Up ahead there was a clearing, a soft, yellow glow emanating from a halo of green. In that soft glow, he found what he had been searching for without knowing it. Somehow he knew he would find this though.

"Why are you leaving me," the soft glow asked, "why won't you stay?"

his mouth worked to form words he didn't even want to say. "I...I have to."

"You can stay."

"I can't," He lied again.

"Do you want to leave?"

"no!" the first true word that came out of his mouth.

"Then why..."

the voice was fading away, retreating into that soft yellow glow. As it grew farther away, Sasuke felt himself become cold as that light grew distant, he was suddenly drenched in a horrible chill filling him to the bone, to his soul. The bright green of the trees started to darken and become a horrifying black that quickly collapsed on him-

-Sasuke bolted upright from bed. His body was covered in a sheen of sticky sweat, making the sheets cling to his legs in a sickening fashion. His breathing was labored and his hair was a mess. He tried kicking free of the irritating sheets but he couldn't manage it.

A steady, gentle hand smoothly lifted the sheets from his legs so he was able to be free. Sasuke sat there dumbfounded in only his dark blue sweatpants he wore to bed. "Kakashi," he asked a bit breathless and deliriously. the voice that answered wasn't the silver haired man's voice at all, but something much softer.

the voice laughed a little before saying, "you're so funny when you're dreaming."

Sasuke sat there for a minute as he listened to the sheets being folded neatly back, his mind trying to muddle through what was going on. "N...Naruto?"

"Yeah," he responded softly, sitting down in front of sasuke on the bed, "I got here about an hour ago and Kakashi put me on watch duty from now on. You know, to get used to my job."

"Ah," Sasuke replied as if he understood when in reality his brain was to fuzzy, to confused to even remember where he was at the moment much less that Naruto was his new warden. He ran a hand tiredly through his messy black hair.

Naruto laughed a little and leaned into the boy, taking a piece of his raven hair between his fingers, "I like your sex hair."

Sasuke started to return to himself and his eyes widened a little bit at how close the boy was. "Get out of my bed, dobe."

"Jesus, fine next time I'll let you strangle yourself in your sheets how would you like that," Naruto grumbled as he let go of that piece of hair and moved out of the boy's bed.

"Just cuz you're my new nanny doesn't give you the right to sleep with me," Sasuke spat out, "it's fine and dandy you gatta keep an eye on me but you're sleeping on the couch."

"Fine, whatever, baka," Naruto spat out and left the room, slamming the door in his wake. Sasuke knew that the blonde haired boy would be back just as soon as he fell asleep again, and he knew Naruto was keeping his senses aware right now to make sure he didn't sneak out. It was his mission after all, who could blame him?

Sasuke groaned and rolled over in his bed, throwing the sheets over himself and forcing his eyes to shut. That worked for about 5 minutes before they snapped back open and the raven boy gave up with a defeated sigh. His mind was wide awake now from having Naruto _in his bed_. there was no way he was getting to sleep again that night.

With another heavy sigh, he threw the covers off of him with a dramatic flourish and stepped out of his bed, the cold wooden floor felt good on his feet. He made his way to the bathroom where he blasted on the hot water and proceeded to take a 30 minute scorching shower to relax himself and take his mind off things for a while. the warm spray was so contrast to the cold needles of water he had felt in his dream earlier tonight. Just thinking about how cold he was sent shivers up his spine even though the steam was rolling off of him along with the water. After he was squeaky clean he turned the shower off and wrapped the towel around his waist. the small bathroom was steamed over and he wiped away the mirror to see himself.

What he saw was ghastly.

He had dark circles under his eyes, his eyes themselves looked wide and hallow, his back was tense and his body looked ready to pounce, his face was flushed of all color and his hair was just its usual black spiky pile of disobedience. His hair made him look even paler in that washed out mirror. He quickly brushed his teeth and tried not to look at how deathly he looked.

After he got dressed in his casual clothes, ninja pants and a plain dark blue, loose t-shirt, he made his way to the kitchen to make himself breakfast and a cup of coffee. He looked at his alarm clock before heading downstairs and realized it was only 3:48 am. Sasuke sighed and went downstairs anyway.

What he found on his couch almost made him smile. Naruto was curled up in a ball on his side, his face trying to burry itself in his arms, his left foot hanging loosely over the edge of the cushion, a peaceful expression on his face.

_Fallen asleep on the first night of an S-ranked mission_, sasuke thought to himself as he shook his head, making his way to the hallway closet. _Some elite ninja he is_. But he got out a blanket and made his way over to the boy, throwing it over his sleeping form and tucking it around him a bit.

"There," he whispered softly and the blonde boy shifted a bit in his sleep. a piece of blonde hair fell over his eyes. Hesitantly, Sasuke reached out a tentative hand and gently swiped it away.

Naruto's fox like instincts took over while he slept and he gently nudged his face into sasuke's hand, fitting his cheek into his palm. Sasuke smiled slightly and gently rubbed his thumb in a soothing circle on his pink cheek.

_No_. Sasuke moved away from the boy and into the kitchen where he proceeded to make himself a cup of coffee. It wouldn't be his last cup for the day.

--

_press it! press the go button! gasps for air you need...to press it...or i'll die...reachers for my readers please...save me!_

_i can imagine every one of my friends deliberately not pressing the go button just to put a stop to my horrid fanfics. But really, tell me what ya think. _


	5. Breakfast

_Alright! im surprised i got this chapter out so quickly. and i actually skimmed through it sort of. I just made sure there were no horrid mistakes. Sorry if i missed some. So enjoy! and the next chappie will pick up right where this one left off._

--

Naruto woke up to the smell of breakfast. It had been a long time since he'd done that, seeing as how he'd lived alone for his entire life. The smell of bacon and eggs filled his nose, rousing him from a warm, deep sleep.

He sat up groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes and stretching like a tired kitten. He looked at the blanket tangled around his legs with a confused expression. "Where did that come from," he thought out loud. He untangled himself and made his way in to the kitchen where he found Sasuke sitting at the breakfast table, a cup of coffee in his hands, staring absently out the window. A plate was set with a fork next to it with eggs and bacon and a couple links of sausage set to his right. A cup of orange juice was waiting for Naruto as well.

"Wow Sasuke," he exclaimed, a grin lighting his face as he picked up the fork and started eating, "this is amazing! Where did you learn to cook?"

"My mother," the raven haired boy replied softly, not taking his eyes away from the window. It was just then that Naruto realized it was raining outside. What a good omen for his first day on his s-ranked mission. The blonde boy started staring at the other boy at the table, noticing how deep in thought he was.

Sasuke turned his head towards Naruto to look him in the eyes, "Do you remember why you're here at my house?"

His tone was condescending and Naruto's defenses kicked on immediately. "Yeah! I'm here on an S-ranked mission because I'm an elite Ninja," he said in a childish way.

"Hmph, some elite ninja you are," Sasuke spat as he took a sip of his coffee.

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke gave a heavy sigh and rested his eyes on Naruto again. "What were the details of your mission?"

Oh, Naruto had this one memorized by heart. "To keep watch over you at all times to make sure you don't escape. That includes living with you, going places you go, being your escort and sleeping in the same room as you."

"Exactly."

"Huh," the blonde asked, throughly confused.

"Where did you sleep last night, dobe," Sasuke demanded, his gaze turning cold and his voice was harsh.

The blonde boy muddled it over for a minute, remembering the events of last night. How Kakashi had briefed him on his mission and the current status of his little prisoner, at least that's what he called sasuke in his head. He had watched sasuke sleep for an hour or two before he had woken up and then forced him downstairs to sleep...on...the couch...

"Shit!"

"Yeah, that's right," Sasuke said, taking another drink from his coffee, "you disobeyed a status for your mission. I could've snuck out last night and gone to Orochimaru's and no one would have been the wiser. You've pretty much failed your mission already."

"Nu-uh! I'm a light sleeper," Naruto tried to argue.

"No you're not, trust me," Sasuke threw back, remembering last night... "I could've been miles away by now."

"Not really."

Sasuke whirled around in his chair to see the silver haired man who was suddenly standing right behind him. Naruto stared in awe at how good of a ninja Kakashi was that sasuke didn't even sense him right behind him.

Sasuke glowered at the silver haired jounin after getting over his shock before he turned back to stare gloomily at the bottom of his coffee. "I had a feeling the first night wouldn't go so well," Kakashi explained, "So I stuck around for Naruto's sake. You're truly lucky he didn't decide to just get up and leave. Had I not been here, he could've been long gone by now Naruto. You need to realize that you can't give into anything he says."

"Yes kakashi-sensei," the blonde boy grumbled, lowering his eyes to his plate.

"No matter what sasuke tells you, you remember the guideline of your mission," he chastised the blonde boy, "that's all that matters. Now tonight I'm leaving Sasuke in your hands so don't let him out of your sight."

"Sorry kakashi-sensei."

"Just be more careful," he replied, "next time I'm going to have to report it to Tsunade-sama and she might reassign some one else to the mission, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde mumbled. Kakashi took that as the most significant response he would get and left the two boys alone for good, leaving Naruto to properly execute his mission on his own.

The kitchen remained silent for a while, neither of them moved a muscle except to breathe and blink. The only sound that penetrated the thick silence were the heavy raindrops pounding relentlessly on the roof. After Naruto could no longer take the silence, he got up and started cleaning off his dishes, washing them and putting them in the cupboards after scouring the place to find where they went.

"Sasuke, you want me to take your coffee cup," Naruto offered.

"Nah, I'm good."

Naruto gave a heavy sigh and realized he had to keep the raven haired boy under his watch at all times which meant he had to just sit there at the table and watch him stare off into space. _This will be fun_, Naruto thought as he pulled out a chair next to the uchiha.

They sat at the table for about ten minutes in utter silence until the blonde felt the need to be talkative. "You know, we could go out and do something. We could train or we could..."

Sasuke threw him a dirty look.

Just then he gripped his left shoulder in an intense grasp, his face scrunching up to show the obvious pain he was in, his cup falling out of his hand and bounced to the table, the liquid flying out. The cup made its way to the edge of the table with its momentum and fell off, crashing and breaking into bits on the floor.

"Sasuke," Naruto shouted, jumping up from his chair and running over to Sasuke's side just as he started to collapse towards the floor. Naruto caught him in his arms and tried to hold him up. He managed to get him into a sitting position on the floor where he picked up the Uchiha and carried him, bridal style, over to the couch where he gently set the boy down. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his eyes closed and his lids flickering. His hair was matting itself to his neck and forehead, his breathing came in shallow beats.

"I have to," The Uchiha boy moaned, "I can't!"

"Sasuke," Naruto shouted, shaking the boy, trying to make him snap out of it. It didn't help. Sasuke began to mumble incoherent words, a look of pain etched in to his face. "Sasuke! Snap out of it!" He took the Uchiha's face firmly between his hands and pressed hard on the boy's temples.

The boy's eyelids stopped flickering but Naruto got no other reaction out of him other than that. He laid there, tense on the couch, his muscles clamping and unclamping inside of his body, his brain trying to return back to consciousness. Naruto held the boy's face firmly, staring at him for signs of life. Then suddenly Sasuke stopped moving. Naruto waited a moment for his spasm to start up again but nothing happened. The blonde boy started panicking, thinking he was dead.

"Oh god, oh god what do I do," he worried aloud, still not letting go of Sasuke's face, "oh god, oh god, oh god!"

"You called," The uchiha asked, a slight smirk on his face. If it weren't for that smile Naruto wouldn't have been sure if he had actually just said that. Then Sasuke opened his eyes and started straight at the blonde.

Naruto's face grew a deep shade of red and he dropped his hands from Sasuke's face immediately. "You teme! I thought you died or something!"

Sasuke sat up on the couch, rubbing the left side of his shoulder blade and wincing when he did so. "Yeah it kind of felt like it too." after a while of stretching Sasuke ultimately determined he was fine and could live.

"Maybe we should get you to a hospital or something," Naruto asked, "get you checked out by grandma Tsunade. That was weird."

Sasuke shot the blonde boy a dirty scowl before slowly standing up from the couch and walking over to the mess the coffee cup had made on the kitchen floor and table. He proceeded to get out a broom and dustpan and sweep up the cup bits. Naruto came over and got out a rag and cleaned up the coffee on table.

Once they were both done cleaning up the mess made from Sasuke's little episode the Uchiha sat down at the kitchen table in the same spot to stare blindly out the window. Naruto sat down beside him.

"So...what happened?"

The silence dragged on.

"Come on Sasuke, you have to tell me, I'm your guardian," the blonde boy commanded.

"Give it a rest, dobe."

"No," Naruto said firmly, "tell me what was going on. Why were you screaming that you couldn't. What couldn't you do?"

A blush started to work its way into Sasuke's cheeks but he terminated the temporary heat and continue as if nothing had happened. "I was...having a bad...I don't know what you'd call that, it wasn't a dream since I wasn't asleep."

"What was it about?"

Sasuke stared into Naruto's deep blue eyes for a long moment, debating wether or not he should tell the little fox boy...and ultimately decided against it because it was something he just couldn't do. "It's none of your business, dobe. Why don't you stop sticking your nose in to places where it doesn't belong."

"Tch, fine," Naruto spat, turning around in his chair and leaving the kitchen mumbling under his breath, "See if I care ever again." Sasuke knew he had gone upstairs to unpack pretty much all of his worldly possessions in to his room but he knew the boy would have his senses on to make sure Sasuke went no where.

He had been in an incredible amount of pain, like embers were blowing to life in his muscles and they rapidly caught on as a wildfire through his shoulder and back and all the way down his left arm. The pain had ben so intense it pretty much knocked him out into a surreal place where he was swimming in his own subconsciousness. And in there he had found that soft, yellow light that had warmed his soul for a while until it started calling to him again, telling him horrible hurtful things. True things that sasuke couldn't run from no matter how much rain hit his back, turning him into a cold statue of ice.

Which is about when he woke up to Naruto holding him. His hands had felt like a fire melting the ice of his soul, they burned on his skin, feeling like they would leave scars.

Sasuke touched his face tenderly, expecting to find deep burn marks smoldering across his cheeks, but his skin was smooth and cold. He sighed and got up from the kitchen chair and started making himself another cup of coffee he knew he wouldn't drink just to feel the warmth beneath his fingers.

Naruto had been unpacking for quiet a while and he could still sense sasuke sitting downstairs with a cup of coffee between his hands. He could sense every breath, every sigh, every heart beat. There was no way he was taking his attention off the Uchiha for one second. This mission meant to much to him. His first S-ranked mission ever and he was going to succeed.

Once he had stacked all of his clothes in a neat little pile in the corner of the room, to scared to even dare open up one of the Uchiha's dresser drawers, he started to unpack things in the bathroom, placing his toothbrush with Sasuke's. God it felt like they had gotten married or something and were moving in together.

"This is ridiculous," Naruto muttered as he finished up in the bathroom and moved back to the bedroom. "I don't think I can live with him if he's just going to treat me like shit the whole time while I try to help him. Ungrateful little..."

It was only for a minute that Naruto had let his guard down to set up his mattress on floor, because he figured there was no way he was sharing a bed with _Sasuke_ of all people. But in that one moment he let his guard down he was shoved up against a wall.

Sasuke's arm was pushed up against his neck forcing the blonde to tilt his head back in pain. Sasuke's other hand was up against the wall next to Naruto, his body pinned against the blonde boy to hold him in place. He squirmed none the less.

"Sasuke," Naruto choked out, "What...the hell...are you _doing_?!"

Sasuke leaned in close to Naruto's face that the blonde boy stopped moving immediately. He held very still as he felt the raven haired boys breath against his lips. But sasuke faked him out and went to the side to whisper in his ear, "You let your guard down." His hot breath tickled the blonde boy, "Even for an instant and I could escape. And shut up about what happened earlier. It was _nothing_."

After the word nothing Sasuke's tongue flicked out to lick the fox boy's ear. A shiver ran up his spine as he stood there completely motionless at what had just happened. Sasuke had let go of him and stood not even a foot apart from the blonde boy.

"Sasuke..."

"What is it, dobe?"

Naruto took a step closer, closing the tiny space between them but moving his head to speak softly in to Sasuke's ear just as he had done. He whispered, "don't underestimate me."

A sharp object was suddenly pressing itself into the Uchiha's back and he realized Naruto had silently summoned a clone behind him. When had he learned to do that?

"You...are mine," Naruto whispered fiercely into his ear. "And don't forget it."

"Tch, as if," Sasuke replied. "If anyone's seme, it's me."

--

_click the go button! do it! tell me what you think _


	6. Ramen Shop

Sorry for the wait. was epically grounded. Hope you enjoy it!

----

"You really shouldn't harass the poor boy like that."

Sasuke jumped a bit, taken aback by Kakashi-sensei's virtually silent arrival. Judging from the position of the sun, it was maybe some where around noon. The Uchiha sighed as his eyes longingly gazed to be just floating freely like a cloud, drifting along with the wind. _God,_ he thought suddenly, _I'm turning into Shikamaru_.

"Mister," The little girl tugged on Sasuke's pant leg, "hey, mister, I'm not assposed to let people near you."

_How humiliating_, he thought. Naruto had gone into the ramen bar to buy a few cups for his prolonged stay at Sasuke's house. He had told him that it would only take a minute, but just in case, he gave a little girl walking around with her puppy a bit of money, Sasuke hadn't seen how much, and told her to "watch that mean guy standing there." It was the most ridiculous situation he had ever been in. "If he gets out of your sight, even for a second, scream! Scream as loud as you can," he had told her enthusiastically and the little girl had been lighten up with the prospect of being able to scream in public and being paid for it.

"He's really getting his pay back for this morning's incident, Isn't he," Kakashi asked, and even though Sasuke couldn't see his smile, he could most definitely hear it.

"Why are you even here," he pouted, "aren't you supposed to be letting the 'elite ninja' handle this mission on his own?"

"I'm supposed to check up on things every once in a while," Kakashi admitted, "Tsunade was, despite her enthusiasm for torturing you, quiet nervous for Naruto's well being, considering that if given the opportunity, you'd kill him and make a run for it."

Sasuke smiled slightly, folding his arms and looking at the gravel underneath his feet, "heh, Tsunade-sama knows me pretty well, doesn't she?"

"Better than she'd care to admit."

There was an awkward silence for a moment between the two until Sasuke looked up and found that the gray haired ninja had left. "Tch, put me in the care of a 5 year old girl. This cannot be an S-ranked mission."

"Heh, I just did that to push your buttons," Naruto admitted, coming around the corner of the ramen shop while another him walked out with a bag filled to the brim with ramen noodles. "I had a clone go get the noodles."

Sasuke took a kunai out of his pack with rapid speed, and at the same time Naruto also withdrew his, the two of them facing each other. _He wouldn't dare attack me in broad daylight in a crowded area...would he, _Naruto thought.

They stared at each other for a moment that was stretching into one of the longest moments Naruto thought he had ever felt. Both of the boys trying to gauge each others actions, predict the first attack. Sasuke quickly and silently thrusted his kunai into the Naruto clone standing by the entrance of the ramen shop. He made a familiar _oof_ noise and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, typical to clones. The ramen bag dropped to the ground with a thud.

Naruto stood there, watching as sasuke put his kunai back into his pouch and started to walk off, the little girl looking fanatically at Sasuke and then back at Naruto, confusion on her face. He ran off to collect the ramen bag and patted the girl on the head "thanks for helping me."

Once he had caught up to sasuke, awkwardly shuffling the bag in his arms, he turned a random corner, leaving Naruto behind and in complete shock. He scowled and caught up to him one last time. "Hey, you're lucky to even be out of the house. Be thankful Tsunade didn't ground your ass at home for years and years! She let you off easy!"

"No she didn't," He replied in a cold voice.

Naruto blinked a moment, confused by his statement. "Yeah she did, she was going to lock you in a holding cell for months and then she would've made you make a public apology."

"Not worse."

"Waddya mean, not worse," Naruto shouted at the Uchiha boy, "Fine, I can call Tsunade up and have her come collect you right now! See if I care if you rot in a cell for the rest of your life and have an anbu assigned to you or something."

"Nah, you wouldn't," Sasuke said, shoving his hands into his pockets and continued walking. Somehow they had ended up walking along side the river, heading in the general direction of his apartment.

"Oh yeah, and what's stopping me?!"

"You're not that nice."

Naruto put down the grocery bag and grabbed Sasuke's shoulder, spinning him around and punching him in the face, his fist making a successful and slightly pleasing sound to Naruto as it made contact with his jaw. The Uchiha flew back onto the ground about a foot away, dazed and in shock. He slowly, tentatively, reached a hand towards his cheek.

"What the hell is your problem," Naruto shouted at him, in a complete and utter rage at the teasing he had just received from Sasuke of all people.

"You're the one who punched me, what the hell is _your_ problem, dobe" he retorted with venom in his voice, lashing out and hurting the blonde boy almost as if he had been bitten by a snake itself. His blue eyes were wide with shock, but retained their previous rage after just a brief moment.

Sasuke had managed to pick himself up and brush off dirt from his pants. "Why are you treating me like a kid?"

"Because Naruto," the uchiha started off in a tired voice, "you still are a kid. You haven't grown up one bit. A jail cell sounds a lot more inviting than the prospect of spending god knows how long with you under my roof with Tsunade's orders while you act all high and mighty. I can't stand you, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto's eyes widened once again and stayed that way, the shock of hearing this..._could it be true? He didn't regret almost killing me? He felt nothing?! We were _friends_!_ At that moment Naruto's kyuubi was starting to once again take a hold of his weakened mental state and physical, seeing as how it hadn't been that long since he was released from the hospital. "We...are..._friends._"

"No Naruto," Sasuke replied, "we aren't. We never were."

"Naruto, stop this!"

Kakashi appeared behind the blonde haired boy just as he fell to the ground, the red chakra overtaking his own, his eyes red with bloodlust, his fingers almost mutating themselves into hideous claws. He was shaking from the physical effort of suppressing the kyuubi. Kakashi laid his hands on his shoulders and used his own chakra to try and suppress the red leaking from his body, licking around his form like harmless fire.

Once that was successfully managed, the moment his red chakra ceased to come pouring out of him, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Sasuke had merely been watching.

Kakashi managed to get the blonde haired boy up and over his shoulders, carrying him on his back. He turned to sasuke and gave him a hard gaze. "Sasuke...What were you thinking?"

"I did nothing."

"Bull shit, you did nothing, and you know perfectly well what you did, too," He replied in a furious voice. "You brought up naruto's memory of the battle you had with him at The Valley of End. What were you thinking? Didn't you even take into brief consideration of the consequences? Or were you hoping for an all out battle so you could defeat him like you did then and then scamper off into the woods to seek out orochimaru? Don't you understand that that man-"

"Sensei, please," Naruto spoke in a feeble and tired voice, "stop harassing him, it was my own fault. Please...can you let me down?"

Kakashi looked at the blonde boy out of the corner of his eye, assessing his condition first before gently placing him feet first on the ground. He swayed a moment but regained balance once again. He smiled slightly to reassure his Sensei.

"Lets go home, Sasuke."

"Naruto, in your current condition, I don't think you're capable of handling sasuke in this situation-"

"I can handle it, sensei, trust me," he said and smiled, walking over to his ramen bag and picking it up with ease, holding it carefully in one arm and turning to give Kakashi a what-now look.

He gave Naruto a warning look, "Fine, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."

And with that, he practically disappeared from sight. Naruto sighed and let the ramen bag drop to the ground, breathing hard with the weight he had to carry for even that brief period of time. Sasuke came over to the blonde boy and picked up the bag. The blonde boy looked up at the Uchiha and a grin was soon plastered on his face as he realized Sasuke was looking off into the distance with that stubborn self preserving look on his face again.

He picked himself up and continued walking the back way home again.

It was a silent walk until they heard some loud, shouting voices up ahead. The two boys gave each other cautious glances but proceeded ahead anyway. The voices got louder.

"You did _what_ Shikamaru," Chouji's voice sounded incredulous.

"You heard me," came the somewhat bored response of Shikamaru.

"Shit," Sasuke cursed quietly under his breath, "This is the only way to go without being trapped in some extremely crowded street...but that might be better than being seen by team 10."

Naruto looked around frantically, "Why don't we hop the tops of the roofs?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blonde ninja and gave a soft chuckle at his ludicrous idea. Sure it was a good idea...for sasuke. But only for him alone. "In your current state, I don't think you could sum up enough chakra to jump up and down, much less scale a building and hop roofs."

Naruto rolled his eyes as if Sasuke was the stupid one in this situation. "I didn't mean me, I meant you could."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. Was he suggesting what he thought he was suggestion? "But...I'm a rebel nin, you let me out of your sight for 10 seconds and I could be gone. Tsunade would-"

"I don't care what Tsunade would or wouldn't do," Naruto's eyes turned firece as he looked at sasuke, the crowd's laughter and chattering growing louder by the second. His blue eyes bore into the Uchiha's black ones. "Sasuke...I trust you not to leave the village, to leave me...so go!"

They stared at each other for a prolonged moment, the group was literally just around the corner, Naruto's nerves were wired, his adrenaline running high. "Sasuke! _Go!_"

"Nope," he replied and rooted himself to the ground with a more forceful, stable stance and looked away from Naruto and at the oncoming group of teenagers.

"_What do you mean _no," he whisper shouted, "Get the _hell_ out of here before they fucking _see_ you!"

"No."

"_Why not?!_"

The Uchiha sighed and gave the blonde haired boy an almost pained look. "_Because_, dobe, you trust me not to leave you. That means leaving you here to have them question you about roaming around the town alone and have them give you a pity party because you didn't save me. So...I'm going to stay."

Naruto looked at him in utter shock.

"Hey, look it's Naruto," They heard Ino yell.

Said boy turned his head and met the group with a beaming grin. Sasuke, however had taken to looking off to the right, ignoring the rest of them, just standing there holding the bag as they walked slowly to meet up with the group.

It was, in actuality, Shikamaru's team and Shino's team, all of them there together, walking around town and hanging out.

"Hey Naruto, long time no see," Kiba said. His eyes then diverted to Sasuke standing there awkwardly holding the ramen bag. "Oh my god! He's back! Team formation! Get him, get him!"

Kiba, Hinata and Shino all jumped into a team position, kunai at the ready while kiba and akamaru stood ready for a surprise attack.

Shikamaru was suddenly behind him, Ino and Chouji on both of his sides. Before Shikamaru could grab him around the neck, Sasuke ducked down and jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow. Ino and Chouji made a man dash for him. He jumped up and let them hit each other, spinning 5 feet away and landing in a crouching position on the ground.

Kiba and Akamaru transformed and started fang over fang, catching Sasuke slightly in the side before he could duck away fast enough. His balance was throw off and he rolled on the ground a couple of times to stable himself once more. Ino managed to capture him in her mind trap.

"You're...ours...sasuke," she said with some difficulty.

Sasuke was frozen still except for a couple of random shakings, him trying to break ino's mind right back at her. Shikamaru managed to capture him in his shadow possession and Ino let go of her jutsu with relief. Sasuke was able to break the Shadow possession quiet easily and made a jump, avoiding contact with the ground, thus shadows, whipped out a kunai, punched Shikamaru in the stomach just as he landed and whirled around him, grabbing him by his neck and holding the kunai against his soft flesh.

"You move, he dies," he panted out.

"No," Kiba almost screamed, "Let him go!"

"Don't hurt anyone," Shino said, a swarm of bugs just itching to eat out his eyes.

Naruto walked into the battle ground and stopped directly in front of Sasuke and Sikamaru. "Naruto, don't do anything," Ino screamed.

"What are you doing, Naruto, I can handle this, get back," Shikamaru commanded.

Naruto rolled his eyes and gave Sasuke a stern look. "Sasuke, put him down."

The Uchiha gave him a hard stare.

"I said put him down," the blonde boy repeated. "_Now_."

Sasuke mumbled something in a venomous voice under his breath but let go of Shikamaru, who fell to the ground panting and in shock. He looked up at Naruto with an incredulous look on his face.

"He's not a missing nin anymore," Naruto informed the group, who still had not put away their weapons even though Sasuke had. "Kakashi captured and arrested him on the day of the battle, when we all set out to go find him. He was brought back and now his punishment is to live under house arrest with me as his personal ninja to keep track of him."

"Are you serious," Ino asked in an disbelieving tone, "you honestly expect us to believe that?"

Sasuke shrugged, "believe what you want, but it's the truth. Oh and by the way, Six against one, hardly a fair fight."

----

Review? For me? or ya know, the cookie monster will eat you.


	7. Fainting is Fun!

_Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but It's 12:30 in the morning, I'm tired, but I was just so gearing and ready to write this damn chapter. Sorry Sasuke and Naruto seem a little bit out of character, but i believe in the depth of their personalities that they're jerks to each other for show. And if they were just jerks to each other, there would be no Yaoi. And as we all know, There is Yaoi. There is always Yaoi._

_So anyway. I love you guys. Writing reviews and what not. 3s to all. _

----

"So you guys are pretty much living together for a month, and this is an S-ranked mission," Ino confirmed, her eyes darting from Naruto to Sasuke, jealousy evident in her eyes. There was nothing Ino wouldn't do to get a chance to spend even just one day with the Uchiha, much less a whole month.

"Wait 'till Sakura finds out," Kiba said in an incredulous voice, being the first to put away his weapon. The rest of the group hesitantly followed his lead.

"No," Sasuke and Naruto shouted at the same time, a scared look in the Uchiha's eyes and a warning one in the blonde's. There was nothing they didn't want more than to keep Sakura in the dark about the current status of the situation. She would immediately tell the entire village and god knows that all hell would break loose.

"Why not," Shikamaru asked.

The boys looked at each other for a moment, communicating something with their eyes until Naruto sighed and turned back to the rest of the group to explain the situation. "Grandma Tsunade didn't want anyone finding out about Sasuke for a little while at least, for fear of pretty much throwing rocks at him, and I'm technically not supposed to be out walking around with him, but we needed food. Anyway, you can't tell anyone no matter what, or Grandma Tsunade might come after you guys!"

They all seemed to understand the situation, but Ino needed to know more of what was going on. She didn't want anything fishy happening with the two. After all, Sasuke was hers. "So...what exactly are you supposed to do? I mean...what are the guidelines of the mission?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but Sasuke, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to freak Ino out, interrupted. "He pretty much keeps me chained up in the bedroom, handcuffs and all. Leather, ropes, whips, you name it. I'm pretty much his slave 24/7. This is the first time i've seen the light of day in a week."

Ino's eyes went wide and she started screaming at Naruto, "You do _WHAT _to him!? Naruto you pervert! You sick freak!"

All the while Naruto was blushing like mad, a side effect Sasuke had not counted on, but was amused none the less. In fact, Naruto's reaction was better than Ino's. He kept his crystal blue eyes fixated on his feet.

"He's lying," Shikamaru butted in on Ino's vicious rampage of completely shredding Naruto apart with her words. "there's no way Naruto would ever do that to Sasuke, considering Sasuke's ego is much to big for it, and by the way he's smiling, you can obviously tell he's enjoying your reaction, so he just said that to get a rise out of you, Ino. And possibly Naruto."

Ino blinked at Shikamaru and turned to face an abashed Naruto. "Is he right?"

"He's always right," Kiba replied in an obvious tone of voice.

"I never did anything like that to Sasuke," Naruto added, raising his head to glare at the annoying, shouting blonde girl.

Sasuke, however, seemed intent on making Naruto out to be the bad guy in this already awkward situation. He leaned in really close to Naruto, putting his lips to his ear and whispered loud enough for the others to hear, "It's not good to lie to people."

"You're the one lying," He shouted.

Suddenly, something came over the fox boy. His fatigue from his earlier rebuttal against the Kyuubi raging inside his body was starting to take it's toll, and it hit him hard. before he knew it, the world was spinning in a weird way, and before he knew what was happening he was on the ground.

Shouts of concerned voices saying "Naruto, are you okay?"

But there were only two arms wrapped around him in a concerned, comforting way. Sasuke's arms. He was trying to calm him, fear of the Kyuubi rearing it's ugly head was his predominant concern. With others around, they could get hurt.

"Sasuke," Naruto managed to whisper, "what's....what's happening? I can't...stand for some reason."

"It's okay, Naruto," He whispered soothingly, relief flooding through him that it wasn't anger that took him over. "I'll take you back to the apartment."

The others were left behind in awe, wondering what had just happened. Sasuke had managed to pick Naruto up bridal style along with the bag of ramen and quickly jump up to a roof and hop his way towards their apartment.

"Hope the kid's okay," Shikamaru commented, putting his hands behind his head.

"Hope Sasuke's okay," Ino replied.

----

Naruto woke up in Sasuke's bed, the sheets laid softly on top of him, a cool cloth pressed against his forehead, his jacket was folded neatly next to the bed along with his pants. The blonde boy sat up slowly and carefully, looking around the light room, must've still been around mid-day. What had happened? Why had he suddenly collapsed like that? And how had he gotten back to Sasuke's apartment so quickly if it was still around noon?

Sasuke came in with another, fresh, cold cloth in his hand. He looked surprised when he saw Naruto up and sitting. He walked over and sat on the bed next to him. He took the cloth off of his forehead and laid it gently on the night stand next to him.

"Sasuke...what happened back there...I'm sorry to get you into that kind of situation-" He started to say, but Sasuke only put his hand gently on the center of Naruto's chest. The boy blushed deeply and looked at the hand, then back at the Uchiha.

He slowly pushed him back to a laying position on the bed, head resting on the pillow. Not what the blonde boy had expected. "You need your rest."

With that said and done, he placed the fresh cloth on his forehead. He stood up from the bed to leave, but Naruto sat up quickly and grabbed his wrist, forcing him back down on the bed. Sasuke turned to stare at him with shock in his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Gently, he lifted his hand and placed it on Naruto's face, stroking his cheek with his thumb. The blonde boy closed his eyes and leaned into his soft touch.

_Wrong._

Sasuke's hand suddenly dropped to his side like dead weight.

He couldn't...he couldn't be this close to the Kyuubi boy. If he let anything become close to him, he would eventually end up destroying him. It was bad enough that they were sort of friends, because that meant his death. But loving him? There was no way.

"Sasuke," the boy's voice was soft, "we're friends...right? So what's so bad about that? Why do you always act like I'm poison at most times, and then you do weird things, like this, taking care of me. What do you really think of me?"

Sasuke turned his head away from those shining blue eyes so he could lie to him. "We shouldn't be friends. That's what I think. Remember when we were at the valley of end... and you claimed we were friends, and I told you that's why I had to kill you."

Naruto nodded.

"It's because...deep down...we're really good friends," He admitted begrudgingly. "So because we are, I have to kill you. I can't let anyone get close to me...because eventually I'm going to leave. That cannot be helped."

"But you don't have to leave," Naruto almost shouted in his anger at their situation. "You can stay here, live in Konoha...with me."

"Naruto-"

"Sasuke...please," He whispered, eyes on his hands that were fiddling with each other in his lap. "I really care about you. You can't just leave me again. You need to stay here." He lifted his gaze to stare into Sasuke's black eyes. "If you leave...I'll miss you. Which just means that we'll have to go through all the trouble of hunting you down and having another battle once again just to keep you here. Because you mean a lot to me and I need you here and-"

Sasuke interrupted him by taking his thumb and forefinger and grabbing Naruto's chin, pulling his face close to his own. "Naruto," He whispered onto his lips, "I care about you. Too much for both of our own goods."

"Prove it," He dared the Uchiha.

----

_Zoh my gawd! Cliffhanger? I think so! What will sasuke do?! Review and maybe he might do something! Zoh my gawd! Blackmail? Nah, he'll do something either way, but reviews are nice. _


	8. Nightmares

_You have **every** right to shoot me where I stand. I lost everything with this story. Any drive I had for it vanished in thin air. Now i know i shouldn't be making up excuses, all I can ask for is your forgiveness and hope that you'll enjoy this chapter._

_What are these rumors of smut I hear surfacing for this chappie? This is rated T, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe the rating might rise in a chapter or two..._

_Read, Review, Enjoy. _

* * *

Sasuke gave Naruto a leveled glare, staring at him for a prolonged and slightly uncomfortable moment. The blonde boy started to squirm underneath that penetrating gaze. It was just then, after Sasuke had realized he was winning the stare down, that he dropped the boy's chin and turned on his heel to leave, a satisfied smirk on his face as he called out behind him, "I don't have to prove anything to you."

Naruto wasn't having any of it.

He made a jump for the Uchiha before he got too far away from the bed, dashing his hand out and grabbing onto Sasuke's forearm, yanking him back with him towards the bed. He stumbled backwards and fell with an extremely awkward _umph_ noise as he landed with his back on the bead, his legs dangling off the side. Naruto quickly, and successfully, shifted himself so that he could pin both of the boy's shoulders to the mattress.

With an angry glare he shouted at the Uchiha, "What the hell is your problem!?"

This took Sasuke completely by surprise. He never expected the blonde boy to be so...volatile towards him. Oh, who was he kidding? Volatile was Naruto's middle name. "If you expect me to actually give you an answer, you might want to elaborate on what you're accusing me of."

Naruto let out an angry huff, averting his gaze to the ceiling to collect his thoughts before turning his eyes back to look at the emotionless boy. "One minute you treat me like I'm a disease, like I'm a complete moron-"

"You _are_ a complete moron," Sasuke interjected.

"-and then the next moment," the blonde boy continued as if he hadn't even heard him, "you are all nice and stuff, saying really confusing things to me. I don't know what you want from me but being a total asshole isn't going to get it!"

A slow smirk started to creep its way on to Sasuke's face, taking Naruto by surprise, "maybe being a complete asshole _is _going to get me what I want from you. Don't you understand, I can't be your friend," by this time, the smirk had disappeared just as quickly as it had come, leaving a creasing frown in it's wake. "If you get any closer to me, I'm going to have to kill you. I've been trying to push you away, but as hard and I try, I can't seem to help myself from pulling you back in. Eventually, Naruto, I'm going to kill you. There's no doubt in my mind."

"But it's not today."

"Huh?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke and gave his a completely emotionless stare, "You're not going to kill me today, what's the point in acting this way? So maybe you'll kill me in the next couple of years, maybe even months, but from what I can see, you don't have the guts to kill me this week or the next." A satisfied smile was on the blonde's face as he added the last just to bruise Sasuke's ego, "Not like you could even get a scratch on me anyway."

"Tch," Sasuke said, turning his head to the side, remembering Naruto still had him pinned down, "Lets not forget who was in the hospital for a week after our little battle at the valley."

"Beginner's luck," The blonde muttered, a daring look in his eye.

As Sasuke's ego flared inside himself, he couldn't resist the urge to slip free from the boy's hold and jab an elbow right to his gut, knocking the wind out of him for a brief moment, allowing the Uchiha to slip out form under him as he collapsed on the bed, turn the blonde boy over and pin his shoulder this time.

Naruto glared up at him.

"What was that about beginner's luck?"

Naruto quickly lifted his head from the bed and pressed his lips to Sasuke's.

Both of them stayed there, in shock, realizing what was going on. Slowly...tentatively...Sasuke released both of his shoulders, lifting his hands to wind up into the blonde's feathery hair, holding his face securely to his.

This all felt so wrong.

Naruto wound his freed arms around the Uchiha's pale, perfectly smooth neck, closing his eyes and delving deeper into his first real kiss.

Until Sasuke fisted that blonde hair so tightly it was starting to hurt Naruto, and threw the boy away from him and back on to the bed. He was breathing heavily out of his shock, staring daggers into those perplexed blue eyes. With a heavy, frustrated sigh, he leaned away from the boy, standing up right, running an angry hand through his black hair, and walked out of the room, leaving Naruto laying on his bed in complete and utter shock.

--

Naruto had slept restlessly though the night.

He had been up well into the late stretches of the evening, waiting for the Uchiha to return to his room to sleep on the cot next to his bed, but he never did. Eventually, around 2:30 am he had guessed, he finally drifted off into an extremely unpleasant sleep. The fight with Sasuke at the valley had been haunting his dreams, plaguing sleeping thoughts by replaying that endless scene of both of their powers colliding together in a force too strong to fully comprehend.

The tears felt like fire as they burned their path down his cheeks, staring at the deformed version of his friend who was coming at him with full intent to kill.

That's what hurt the most. The tears he could stand, the ripping pain in his shoulder he could stand, the flesh on his back slowly being burned and eaten away by the fox's chakra he could stand. But that bloodthirsty, inhuman look in those Onyx, turned yellow, eyes...that was too much.

More than the physical pain, it hurt him emotionally, and he was finally beginning to comprehend why. He wanted Sasuke to stay with him against all odds, no matter what it took. He wanted his friend back...or was he something more?

All of these emotions were stirring in the blonde boy as he slept, his confusion hitting him almost as forcefully as Sasuke had that day. He knew they were friends, close friends, no matter how much Sasuke teased and bullied him, he knew it was only because they were close.

How close were they?

Naruto felt like he was past the urge of wanting him to be back in the village with him, entering the stage of a hungry need. There was something about the thought of not having that sarcastic, almost intolerable, Uchiha around that sent a ripple of pain through his chest, bringing fresh tears to his eyes.

He truly did care for Sasuke. Maybe even...lo-

No. He couldn't...not Sasuke...and there was no possible why he could ever...feel that way back...could he?

_He did kiss you back_, Naruto's subconscious butted in. He didn't even know _why_ he had kissed the Uchiha! It was pure stupidity, a horrid impulse he had thoughtlessly acted on. He was just so close...and it was true. For a second there, no matter how much Naruto wanted to deny it and shove it into the deep reaches of his mind, he returned the kiss. There was no doubt about it.

And he did mention that he cared for Naruto as well. He _was_ taking care of him after he fainted instead of leaving him on the spot and making a run for it out of the village. Maybe he actually wanted to stick around? Maybe he didn't have an ulterior motive? At least not yet. Well, he knew the Uchiha was going to kill him eventually and join Orochimaru, but maybe was starting to slowly realize that he could stay here and train as hard as he could without that perverted snake's help.

Naruto tossed fitfully in his sleep as the image of Sasuke's snarling expression inched towards him, hand poised with that deadly attack, hearing his name being echoed off those lips...

--

Sasuke woke with a start.

He had been dozing on the couch down stairs, having too much pride to actually go into the blonde's room, sensing he was still awake. That kiss had been on his mind for the entire day. He had busied himself earlier with cleaning his apartment before finally dozing off on the couch for a couple of hours.

Why he stayed with the stupid fox boy was entirely beyond him.

That vision had come back to him in his sleep. The soft yellow glow had been crying to him, asking him why he was leaving, telling him, begging him actually, to stay. For some reason, in the deep reaches of his mind, the Uchiha knew he _couldn't_ stay. On the surface...he could though. He was desperate to stay with the agonizingly sad yellow glow. The last thing he wanted to do was make it sad, feeling that it should be happy, it had the _right_ to be happy, and he was hindering that right. In the end, every time, he left.

After he had woken up from that strange dream, the kiss entered his mind once again. He honed in on Naruto, trying to feel his presence, and felt his deep, long breaths. The boy was finally asleep, safe and sound.

Slowly, the Uchiha pushed himself off the couch and began to over analyze everything that he had been putting off until that point. That kiss...that small, awkward, weird, little kiss. He had kissed the blonde boy back, he knew that, but he didn't fully understand why. He didn't _like_ Naruto...he couldn't. That fox boy was the most irritating, flamboyant, loud, obnoxious, happy-go-lucky...entertaining...slightly cute kid he had ever met. With a loud sigh, he finally began to realize that he might _possibly_ be attracted to Naruto. Sure the thought had maybe crossed his mind once or twice on missions...

So he had returned the kiss that the boy had started. He had issues about shoving him away, he couldn't keep up the cold facade long enough, no matter how hard he tried. He always faltered and broke under that cerulean stare.

Naruto was his friend and he was going to have to kill him some day, there was no doubt about that...but he could possibly be...maybe a little bit more than a friend? Fuck, he did _kiss_ the kid!

Sasuke punched the couch cushion angrily, trying to sort out his emotions, he wanted to stay with Naruto, he wanted to leave him so that the blonde could move on and live a happy life, he wanted to punch him in the face, he wanted to kiss that soft face...

Fisting his hair, he plopped back onto his back with a soft _thump_. He honed in on Naruto once again to get a feel for how deep in sleep the boy was.

Something was wrong.

There were soft moans and groans of pain coming from his room, his breathing was ragged, he was crying out every now and then, shifting constantly under those sheets. With a curious look on his face, the Uchiha sat up and listened more closely. There was no doubt about it, something was going on with Naruto.

Sasuke lifted himself to his feet, slowly making his way over to the room where the blonde was sleeping on his bed. With a soft hand, he pushed the door ever so slightly open, padding his way softly over to his bed side.

He was having a fit, to say the least. Rolling every which way, crying out, sometimes words sometimes not. Sasuke caught his name being said in a pitifully sad tone. He raised a hand and gently put it on the blonde's shoulder, trying to steady him. It had little to no effect.

"Don't," he shrieked out, wrenching himself to his left side, face the Uchiha. His hands were grasping out in mid air for something he couldn't quiet seem to reach, like a small child reaching for it's mother, "Stop! Please! Don't...don't do this! Please Sasuke! Don't leave me!"

That wrenched on the raven haired boy's heart, sad that he was causing him this much pain. His laced his fingers into the blonde's, but that seemed to calm him only a little. Those fingers started to crush his in a death grip, unwilling to let go.

"Naruto," Sasuke called softly to him, wanting to end his dream, "Naruto, stop fussing, it's fine."

With an agonized look, a scream was suddenly torn from his lips, piercing through the air. The boy sat bolt upright in his bed, covered in sweat, his sheets sticking to his legs, blue eyes wide with tears and fear. He wildly looked around the room until he noticed he was holding steadfast to something warm. He looked up to find black eyes staring at him.

"...Sasuke," he whispered softly, fresh tears starting to form at the edges of his eyes. He threw out what ego he had, seeing as it was 4 in the morning, and began sobbing softly.

Hesitantly, with a torn look on his face, Sasuke drew Naruto into his chest where the blonde boy continued to cry.

--

About an hour later, Naruto was sleeping peacefully, after having dragged Sasuke into the bed with him, his head resting the Uchiha's lap.

Carefully, he lifted the sleeping boy's head and replaced his lap with a pillow. He ran a hand softly through that feathery blonde hair before finally walking over the cot he had set up for the boy and basically collapsed onto it, falling into a fitful sleep once more, that dream resurfacing, but this time...he stayed.

* * *


	9. Awkward Morning

_I was getting as frustrated over their stupid pride as much as you were. Trust me, Sasuke was about up to _here_ with it too. He was scowling at me for the last chapter. _

_So I hope you enjoy this one!_

* * *

"Morning," Sasuke called in a distracted voice, not lifting his gaze from the black cup of coffee nestled between his hands as the blonde boy stumbled groggily into the kitchen. He reached for the coffee pot and poured himself a cup, rubbing his eyes all the while. He sniffed tentatively at it first before pouring in a staggering amount of cream and sugar, mixing quiet loudly in his cup through his early morning haze. Sasuke watched as he withdrew the spoon from his mug and placed it in his mouth, sucking the liquid away before pulling it out with a _pop_.

"What time is it," Naruto asked, slowly lifting the cup to his lips and taking a long, satisfying gulp.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the clock stationed to his stove and turned back to reply, "almost 9 am."

Naruto groaned and smacked his head down onto the wooden table, his head connecting with a hollow _thump_. A smirk graced Sasuke's lips, but he held back the insult seeing as how the blonde looked like he was in absolutely no mood. From where he rested his head on the table, he muffled through the wood, "It's way too early to be up. I feel like I slept in hell last night."

"You're not he only one," Sasuke replied, taking a sip of his black coffee before gently setting it back down on the wooden table. After he had alerted the blonde that he did, indeed, still exist, that mess of spikes tentatively rose from it's exhausted position, crystal blue eyes peeking up at him through long lashes.

A blush easily worked itself onto Naruto's face, staining his cheeks a horridly delightful shade of modest pink. He came up to rest his chin on the table, staring at the Uchiha who gave him a leveled stare right back.

Eventually, the tension and embarrassment became too much and Naruto looked away, off into another corner of the apartment, setting an arrogant scowl on his face to try and preserve what, if any, pride he still had left. With a small huff, he finally worked his mouth to form a sentence of actual meaning, "Uhm...about....you know..."

Sasuke rose an eyebrow in amusement. This was just going to be such awkward fun for the Uchiha. Sadistically, he was going to make him elaborate by saying, "huh?"

A new blush spread across Naruto's cheeks as he finally sat up straight, only to slouch a bit in the kitchen chair again, and crossed his arms over his chest, still not looking at Sasuke. "You know...the uh...other night...I'm...sorry about that. I don't know what came over me, I guess. So uh...we could just forget about it if you want."

Trying to suppress his little evil smile, Sasuke retorted, "You have to tell me what you're actually talking about, dobe. Lots of things happened last night. Like you sleeping in my bed. You're washing those sheets, you know."

Naruto threw the Uchiha a deadly glare before saying, "J-Just forget everything, okay?! Forget I even mentioned anything, if you're going to be such a jerk about it, I know you don't want that to get out so I won't say anything if you don't say anything. We can just pretend the whole thing never happened, alright?"

Sasuke didn't even move a muscle when he replied, "And if I don't want to forget about it?"

The blonde boy blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. Those words shouldn't be coming from _Sasuke_ of all people, that was most certainly not what he had expected to hear. He sat there, dumbstruck, staring at the raven haired male until finally, Sasuke started to move. He gave a deep sigh and sat up in his seat, placing his coffee cup lightly on the kitchen table. "I didn't know you were this much of a dobe. Jeez, I gatta spell out everything for you, don't I?" He sat back again in his chair, staring at Naruto. "You had a bad dream last night, you were screaming in your sleep, wanna talk about it?"

Still slightly dumbfounded, Naruto opened his mouth once and then closed it again when he found he had nothing to say. After a few moments he opened his mouth once again...but still couldn't form his thoughts into a coherent sentence and closed his mouth. It was about then realized he was probably resembling a gaping fish, and decided to spit it out. "So, Is that all you're remembering? You know, you kind of fainted about a week ago, wanna talk about _that_."

Sasuke said nothing.

"Thought not. It was...just a bad dream," Naruto muttered, averting his gaze to the cup of coffee in front of him, watching the tendrils of steam swirl away in elaborate patterns.

"You were screaming," Sasuke stated plainly, never looking away from those blue eyes, a seriously amused face on, "quiet loudly. What were you dreaming about?"

"All the ramen in the world was gone," Naruto lied in in a monotone, eyes looking past Sasuke and straight into his own dream from the previous night. He couldn't remember specifically what had happened, the details were hazy, but he could remember how he had felt. The emotions were powerful; pain, desertion, despair...but then Sasuke had been with him...was that real or a part of the dream? He had been so close, so warm, comforting him it seemed.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, "You were screaming in pain, almost crying, you sissy. You said my name."

Naruto looked away into another corner of the apartment, carefully inspecting it, trying to distract himself from the increasingly awkward conversation. Finally, though, after several minutes of silence so intense you could hear a pin drop from a block away, Sasuke finally decided to speak up.

"You were dreaming I left you again," he declared in a solemn voice, "and you were crying out for me. We...you kissed me, alright? There, now it's out in the open."

"You did it back! We can just forget about that," Naruto muttered.

The Uchiha stared at the blonde. "Do...you want to forget about it?"

"Why...don't you," the blonde boy asked, lifting his gaze from unknown parts of the room to give the raven haired boy a curious stare, raising both his eyebrows, "I thought you hated me."

The Uchiha furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion and slight hurt at the blonde's comment. The screaming dream he had witnessed last night had gotten to him on some level. He felt horrible for causing such and innocent looking boy such horrible pain. There was no denying that those screams and tears were his fault. Heart beating slightly louder at the idea passing through his head, he rose slowly from his seat and walked over to where the blonde boy was sitting. Naruto watched him carefully, following every movement the older teen made, until he was standing directly over the blonde boy.

Drawing in a deep breath, Sasuke said slowly, "I have to spell everything out for you, don't I?"

Sasuke snaked a hand through the blonde's messy morning spikes, slowly brining their lips closer and closer until they were just a breath away, lips barely touching. All Naruto had to do was breathe Sasuke's name and their lips connected. The blonde wrapped his arms around the Uchiha's neck, trying to pull him closer. The electricity between them was intense as Naruto's tongue snaked out and licked Sasuke's lips, begging for entrance into that luscious mouth. The Uchiha complied, slipping in his tongue in with the blonde's where a war between the two began. Eventually, after a long battle, Sasuke had won the war for dominance and straddled the blonde in the kitchen chair.

For a moment, just to breathe, they broke apart, a thin bridge of saliva connecting the two. They were panting heavily, eyes half lidded in their passion, Sasuke was gently stroking the blonde's cheek with tender circles made by this thumb.

"So...you don't want to forget about this either," Naruto breathed heavily, a slight smirk on his face.

"You know, you can be a _real_ idiot some times," Sasuke panted, resting his forehead against the blonde's.

Naruto suddenly realized the position they were in and, with a flush of his face, he whispered, "Maybe we could sit on the couch or...something like that? This isn't all that comfortable."

"Hmm," Sasuke hummed lowly, "I kind of like it."

With his signature arrogant scowl, Naruto pushed the Uchiha off of him, watching as he stumbled back a few steps trying to regain his balance, a look of shock on his face. Once he saw that scowl on the blonde's face, however, an evil smirk crossed his features. He hurled himself forward, pinning the blonde boy to the chair and knocked him back so hard, they both crashed heavily to the floor.

"Ah! Sasuke! You teme!" Naruto wriggled under the raven haired boy, trying to free himself from his surprisingly heavy weight. For such a lithe looking boy, he sure did weigh a _ton_.

Sasuke stopped the boy from struggling by pinning both of his arms above his head, a wicked glint in his eye as he whispered fiercely, "Is this position better, dobe?"

"No," The blonde boy dead panned, his expression betraying his rapidly beating heart.

"Too bad," Sasuke retorted.

* * *

_Gosh! now all that's left is some sort of plot. _

_Golly gee whiz, too bad for Sakura. _


	10. Sakura Deserves It

_So about a year ago i decided to completely give up on this story, not sure what to do with it anymore and my love for this show having been KILLED by the stupidity of everyone who enjoys it at my school (not talking about you guys, just a couple ppl who wont shut up. I LOVE you guys!) but now i re read it a while ago and decided to take it up again._

_SO HERE IT IS!_

_**Disclaimer**: This site is called FanFiction. If you sue me you really are stupid._

* * *

"Hey, you two."

Sasuke and Naruto whipped their heads in the direction of the mysterious voice, the blonde still pinned to the floor and the raven still on top of him, possibly the most awkward position they could be in as Kakashi-Sensei sat there on the window sill, looking down at them. Behind his mask, the jounin was turning a bright red, covering his eyes as the two righted themselves.

"S-sensei," Naruto stuttered, "It's...it's not what it looks like!"

"Sure, sure," Kakashi muttered under his breath, peeking through his eyes and finding the boys both standing again, removing his hand and staring at them. "I don't really want to know, do I?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, regaining his pride and glaring at his teacher from across the kitchen. "He was bothering me so I pushed him over in his chair and he grabbed my arm, dragging me down with him. We weren't doing anything, you nasty pervert. You should try getting your head out of those books every once in a while."

Kakashi sat there for a moment, stroking his chin in thought, before replying, "Touche." He climbed down from the window sill and walked in to the apartment, taking in its practically spotless state and throwing Sasuke a knowing look. Whenever he was stressed, the Uchiha boy cleaned. Turning back to the boys, he said, "I'm actually here on business."

"What's up Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked, bouncing up and down, enthusiasm regained as he started to look just like his old idiot self again, that goofy grin in place. "You got a mission for us or something? It's been forever!"

He shook his head slowly, "The truth is...Sakura heard from Ino about what happened. She couldn't help bragging about knowing he was alive first, and now Sakura is in a state of extreme...mental instability and I think it would be best if-"

Just then, the front door to Sasuke's apartment was burst open, the door almost flying off its hinges, and standing there in the wake of the sudden noise was none other than the pink Shinobi, a furious and wild look of determination mixed with hope was on her face, eyes lit up with excitement. She stormed in to the apartment and headed directly towards the first person she saw; Naruto.

"Where is he," She screamed in his face, grabbing the blonde boy by his collar and lifting him off of his feet. She had surprising strength for someone who sucked so utterly on missions. "Sasuke's alive and in the village, Ino told me so! Where is he?! Tell me where he is!!"

The raven haired boy was becoming progressively irritated by the noisy girl's behavior and the way she was handling what was his. He tapped the girl's shoulder twice.

"What," She snapped, whipping around and coming face to face the legendary Uchiha who had tried to escape only a month before. Her jaw dropped and he instantly let go of the blonde, who fell to the kitchen floor with a _thud_. She threw her arms around Sasuke and squeezed him way too tightly again her chest, squealing in pitches unknown to man in his ear. "OHMAIGAWD! You're okay! I knew it! Oh Sasuke, I knew you'd come back! I knew you wouldn't leave me!"

Sasuke's face was dead as he let the pink haired girl crush him between her arms, facing Naruto and Kakashi. He could see the hints of a smile behind the jounin's mask and as the blonde picked himself up off the floor, a grin was slowly spreading across his face as well. He clearly mouthed to the Uchiha "You deserve it."

Sasuke threw him a death glare as he pealed the squealy girl off of him, taking a step back and holding her by the shoulders, fresh tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and said, "Sasuke...You really did come back."

"I hate to disappoint you Sakura, but I was more or less dragged back here," the Uchiha admitted, averting his gaze to the floor and letting go of her shoulders. He could almost see the look of confusion on her face. "I...didn't come back for you...or anyone. Kakashi-sensei dragged me back here against my will."

"W-what do you mean," she asked, dumbfounded.

Sasuke sighed dramatically before looking back up at the pink haired kunoichi, "This village is weak, they can't offer me what I need to kill him and I've broken ties with anyone left here in Konoha. My destiny is to be out there, learning things these people are too afraid to know."

Sakura blinked a couple of times before opening her mouth...and closing it again, speechless. Finally, after another long moment of looking between Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke for reassurance of what she was hearing, she spoke her mind, "You didn't break ties with anyone here. Don't you get it sasuke?" The tears were flowing from her eyes now, grabbing his arms and shaking the Uchiha boy back and forth, "I...I love you! I've always loved you, Sasuke! You can't you've broken ties with everyone when I still love you! Please...don't leave us again Sasuke! Don't leave me!"

He stared emotionlessly at the pink haired girl for a long moment before shaking his head slowly. Realization was dawning on her face as well as Kakashi's, who was feeling nothing but empathy for the poor, soon to be heartbroken, kunoichi. "I'm sorry Sakura...but I didn't come back for you, or for anyone. I have no feelings for you what so ever. Don't _you_ understand? You've deluded yourself in to thinking I'll ever feel the same way for you through several instances of nice things I've done for you, when nothing could be farther from the truth."

"What...what do you mean?"

Naruto was almost starting to feel bad as well. Poor girl.

"I don't like you at all," Sasuke glared at the girl harshly, arms crossed and eyes blank, "You think everyone likes you, but you're useless, weak, and all together annoying. You can't take care of yourself physically or emotionally so you cling to me for support, but you need to learn to stand by yourself, because I honestly don't like you at all, Sakura. You've been nothing but an irritant since the day I met you, so take a hint and back off. tell Ino the exact same thing for me."

"You...don't mean...any of that."

"I mean every word."

"Sasuke," Naruto interjected, "Maybe you're being a little too harsh-"

He shook his head confidently, "She needed to hear it."

"You," everyone turned to stare at Sakura who had spoken so quietly, "You're an _asshole_!"

She ran from the room, tears streaming down her face, eyes puffy and head, slamming the door behind her just as loudly as it had been flung open, only this time the noise held a much more final and depressing air to it. Kakashi looked at the Uchiha boy, holding his gaze for a moment before closing his eyes and shaking his head in disappointment.

"I realize there was no better way to make her understand instantly, but you could've done it gently over time," he explained, headed back towards the still open kitchen window. "At least you stood up for your feelings once instead of thinking only about how to escape and break ties. Oh, by the way, you have a mission coming up in 3 days." He threw the boys an amused look before continuing, "All three of you need to work as a team, hope you can patch things up by then. Later."

With that, he was gone in a flash, off to do god knows what in who knows where probably with Iruka-sensei. They had been spending an increasing amount of time together, which is normal for friends.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke who had begun to clean up the coffee mugs from earlier that morning and placing them in the dishwasher. "You know...you could've been a lot nicer to her. She really tried to stop you. She made me promise to bring you back here, she was really torn up about you leaving."

Without facing the blonde boy, the uchiha replied, "She needed to learn one way or the other. I don't like annoying people."

Naruto stared down at his feet, his head filling with memories of all the times Sasuke had called him baka, dobe, teme, all the names and all the insults, constantly calling him stupid...Sasuke couldn't really have any interest in him, he was just as annoying as Sakura...right? Maybe even more annoying. He kept constantly pushing Sasuke and just generally acting like a loud idiot where as Sakura was at least supporting him...

The raven haired boy turned around and saw the conflicted expression on the fox boy's face. Confused, he approached the boy, trying to figure out the reasons behind that torn up look...but he moved away from the Uchiha. "Naruto?"

He raised his big blue eyes to stare deeply in to pitch black ones before turning away and walking upstairs. Utterly confused, Sasuke let him go.

Naruto had spent the better part of the morning and afternoon sitting in the bedroom he shared with Sasuke just...thinking. He realized it was completely out of character for him to do something as serious as sit there and think deeply, but the situation called for it, and he wasn't as much of an airhead as he made himself out to be.

Okay, so he hadn't just _sat_ there all day doing absolutely nothing of course, that would be incredibly dull and Naruto always needed something to occupy his attention with so he stripped the bed of its sheets, hauled them to the washer and threw them in along with various accumulated clothes over the weeks. Sasuke was pretty diligent about keeping his place clean, but when it came to trivial girl things he just steered clear of them...not saying that Naruto didn't either. The grow pile of clothes, however, was starting to get on his nerves.

After washing and folding all of the laundry, making sure to steer clear of Sasuke who was working on mandatory paper work given to him Tsunade-sama as a requirement for paying back his debt to the city-in other words, the old grandma was lazy and hated paper work so she pushed it off on Sasuke-and he was not in a good mood.

The whole atmosphere of the apartment, despite the beautiful day it was outside, was beginning to grow extremely dark and oppressive. By two pm Naruto had had just about enough. Pushing himself off of the clean mattress, he stomped his way downstairs to make sure his presence would not be a surprise to the Uchiha.

Standing In the doorway to the stairs, he crossed his arms over his chest and called out to the raven haired male. "Hey, Sasuke, lets go."

Taken off guard by this, he whirled around and came eye to eye with a bored and aggravated looking blonde. Raising one curious eyebrow, he closed the file he was working on and set it on the table. Rising steadily to his feet, he asked, "Go where?"

Naruto shrugged. "Anywhere but here. It's a nice day, we could use some air."

"And training," Sasuke threw in.

Slipping on their shoes, they made their way out of the front door and in to the glaring rays of the calm, afternoon sun. The water from the river sparkled gently in the golden light and put both boys at ease instantly. The shade filtering through the trees provided a cool break from the pleasant wether, not that it was needed, but it still felt nice.

As they headed towards the sparring grounds in silence, thoughts were still flooding the fox boy's head. Sure, he was irritating, sure, Sasuke would probably rather still leave the village than stay with him...even after what they had been through in the kitchen that morning...

That instance seemed so far away in his mind now. He was beginning to question if it ever really happened...

Wait! he was no idiot! he was more useful than Sakura, more outgoing, at least trying for fuck's sake! If Sasuke thought he was just as annoying and useless...well than what better than a sparring match to prove him wrong! How dare that Uchiha toy with his emotions like that! He was probably the reason he tried to leave the village in the first place. Well, what the hell! why not let him! Naruto didn't need him, let him leave!

His mind made up, resolve strengthened, Sasuke could sense something different about his demeanor instantly. He was the most sly person in the world, that was for sure. All the Uchiha knew was that he had been acting weird ever since he turned down Sakura that morning...was he angry about that?

They reached the grounds and Naruto walked off to the opposite end of the clearing, the place where they had first joined together as a team. Where Sasuke had fed him all that time ago when he was tied to a log...God, what a demented memory. Kakashi was a really perverted teacher!

Taking his stance facing the Uchiha, whipping out a Kunai, he crouched down in a defensive position and waited for Sasuke to do the same.

"I'll try to go easy on you, dobe," the raven haired male replied, whipping out a weapon as well.

This only made the blonde's rage flare inside of him, he had been right. Sasuke only thought of him as a dobe, a teme, nothing else. He couldn't even refer to him by his actual name on a constant basis. He would prove sasuke wrong!

With a cocky smirk, Naruto replied, "Good, this'll be over a lot quicker then."

After a prolonged moment of staring each other down, they both launched themselves at each other, blades colliding in a screech of metal before they recoiled from the force of the attacks.

Sasuke whipped out his shuriken and flung it at the boy as a distraction, expecting him to jump up, which is exactly what he did. Seeing his opening, he flung several kunai at him, the blonde dodging each blade only to come face to face mid air with the raven haired boy. He swiftly flung a fist into Naruto's abdomen, knocking him back to the ground and falling to his hands and knees. Sasuke landed above him and lifted his leg up to prepare for a heavy kick to his back, but in a flash of motion Naruto caught his foot and flung him to the earth. Landing on his back with a thud, both of the blonde's hands coming at him, he gripped the boy's wrists and flung him backwards as well.

Rising to his feet with a jump, he whipped out another kunai as Naruto got up as well. Facing off once again, the boys preformed their signature jutsuus at the same time. Naruto summoned 20 clones as Sasuke blew fire at each and every one of them. In the confusing smoke they gave off as they disappeared, Sasuke could sense the real naruto and flashed behind him, holding a kunai to his throat.

Not even hesitating a moment, the blonde ducked down and kicked out his feet from under the Uchiha, only he jumped in time to miss it...to be punch harshly and unexpectedly in the stomach.

The wind knocked out of him, feeling two hands firmly on his shoulders, he was pushed to the ground with Naruto straddling him, a blade at his throat, hands pinned above his head with the boy's free hand.

A vicious snarl was on his face.

"Naruto," he whispered softly.

"I am not like her," He shouted in the Uchiha's face, "I am _nothing_ like Sakura! I can stand on my own two feet! I don't need you! You really want to leave that badly, what's stopping you? You've had countless opportunities these past couple of days. You wanted to leave to get away from me in the first place, so why are you still here!?"

"Kakashi-sensei captured me, remember," Sasuke whispered, utterly confused.

"So," Naruto exclaimed, "He's not here right now and I couldn't give a shit if you left or not. I am not an idiot, I can fight for myself. Especially against you. You hate Sakura because she's annoying, well...so am I! It's who I am! So why are you pretending to like me when I'm nothing more than Sakura in your eyes!?"

"Who...told you that," Sasuke asked, understanding dawning on him now. Naruto was insecure because of all the things he had said to the boy in the past.

The blonde shook his head, the blade pressing harder in to the soft skin on the Uchiha's neck, blue eyes narrowing in to black, "No one needed to tell me."

"You truly are an idiot," Sasuke replied, a smirk growing on his face as the boy above him continued to rant in anger. He waited for the fox boy to finish before saying, "If you honestly believe that, you really are dumber than I thought. I'm still here _because_ of you, baka. You still need me too, your dreams are clear evidence of that, so don't even try to delude yourself in to thinking you don't. As for comparing you to Sakura...never really thought about it that way. You're a lot different than she is. At least you can think for yourself."

"But...you call me so many names all the time...why are you toying with me," Naruto asked, his resolve faltering.

The blonde's grip loosened on his hands and he slipped one free, bringing it to the sun kissed face above him and trailing it along those features he knew so well. Naruto could only stare. "You may not need me, but for some reason, _I _need _you_."

Threading his hand through that feathery blonde hair, he pulled the stunned boy closer to him, closing the distance between their lips.

Little to their knowledge, a certain pink haired kunoichi was watching the scene unfold with tears streaming down her cheeks. Little did she know, a certain whited haired teacher watched her as she ran away from the tormenting vision of the boys tangled together in the dirt.

Sighing dramatically, Kakashi-sensei pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, squinting his eyes shut tightly. "Their mission is just going to be one pleasant trip through utter hell."

* * *

_Gosh i love kakashi!_

_The review button...what's it there for? I have a fear of new things, so you should click it and give me a status report. _


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